CAIRO/JERUSALEM:
Israeli tanks pushed into the heart of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Thursday, facing anti-tank rockets and mortar fire from militants massed there, while in the south, its forces pounded Rafah without making any progress, Palestinian residents and fighters said.
The slow progress of Israel’s offensive, more than seven months after it was sparked by a deadly cross-border raid by Hamas, highlighted the difficulty of achieving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of wiping out the resistance group.
The armed wings of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have been able to fight up and down the Gaza Strip, using heavily fortified tunnels to mount attacks both in the north – the focus of Israel’s initial invasion – and in new battlegrounds such as Rafa.
“We are wearing down Hamas,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad said, announcing that more troops would be deployed to Rafah, where he said several tunnels had been destroyed.
Israel says four Hamas battalions are now in Rafah along with hostages taken during the October 7 attack, but is facing pressure from the United States, Europe and the United Nations not to storm the town, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian citizens.
Also read: Israeli tanks push deeper into Rafah, fighting rages in northern Gaza
The death toll in Gaza has risen to 35,272, health officials in the Hamas-run coastal enclave said, and malnutrition is widespread as international aid efforts are hampered by violence and the de facto closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing and the border Rafa crossing. Egypt.
Israel says Hamas is diverting aid and must eliminate the group for its own protection after it killed 1,200 people on Oct. 7 and free 128 of the 253 hostages taken by the militants, according to its accounts.
The United States moored a temporary floating jetty on a beach in Gaza on Thursday to boost aid deliveries, but it was still unclear how it would be distributed, given the challenges that have plagued the United Nations and aid groups for months.
Egyptian sources said Cairo, which fears a mass exodus from Gaza to Egypt, had rejected Israel’s request to coordinate the opening of the Rafah border crossing, which Israel captured on May 7, and to hold it off. from Palestinian control.
Cease fire and hostage release talks are deadlocked over how to end the war. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said his group, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, should continue to have a role while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, mediating along with Qatar and the United States, said that Israel is not doing enough.
Central market in Jabalia under fire, residents say
Israel declared an end to major operations in northern Gaza months ago, vowing to return to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
On Thursday, about a week after they returned, Israeli tanks were heavily shelling the main market in the heart of Jabalia, a decades-old refugee camp, and several shops there were set on fire, residents and Hamas media reported.
Earlier, Hamas’ armed wing said its fighters in Jabalia destroyed an Israeli military vehicle with a locally-made Al-Yassin 105 anti-tank missile, causing casualties. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the statement and there was no immediate comment from Israel.
“They are shelling like crazy, destroying the houses and the main market in the camp,” said one of the camp’s residents. Reuters through a chat app.
“It seems that they are acting this way because of the resistance operations that are grilling their soldiers,” he added, declining to give a name for fear of reprisals.
An Israeli tank maneuvers near the Israel-Gaza border in Israel, May 16, 2024. PHOTO: REUTERS
Residents said tanks had also been pushed back near the entrance to the nearby northern town of Beit Hanoun, and Israeli bulldozers were demolishing factories and properties in the area.
Palestinian medical teams said they were aware of reports of casualties in Jabalia, but were unable to reach them due to the intensity of Israeli shelling and the army’s active incursion.
Among the dead was a Palestinian journalist, Mahmoud Jahjouh, and his family, doctors and fellow journalists said.
Israel says it has eliminated many militants in Jabalia, but made no further comment on developments there on Thursday.
Read: Israel’s attack on Rafah would not wipe out Hamas, Blinken says
In southern Gaza City, medical teams and rescuers said they were continuing to search for casualties in the suburbs of Zeitoun and Shabra, after dozens of bodies were recovered in the wake of a six-day military offensive. The Palestinian Authority does not distinguish between fighters and civilians when reporting death tolls.
On the southern edge of Gaza, tanks held their positions in the eastern neighborhoods and suburbs of Rafah, while maintaining pressure with air and ground bombardment.
Medics said an Israeli tank shell hit a square deep inside Rafah, killing one Palestinian and wounding several others, while residents said clusters of houses on the edge of town were blown up by the army after an evacuation order.
Israel said its strikes targeted militants.
“We are operating in specific places based on our intelligence and where we know Hamas terrorists are hiding and where we believe we can find either tunnel shafts or terrorist infrastructure or munitions of many types,” said military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. .
a href=”https://tribune.com.pk/story/2466899/israel-moves-in-on-north-gaza-hamas-stronghold-pounds-rafah-without-advancing”>Source link
